adminSikhumbuzo Moyo in BULAWAYO
REINSTATED ZIFA Bulawayo provincial chairman, Francis Ntutha, says he is unmoved by the mass resignation of all but one of the other board members.
He says, in any event, his office has not yet received any of the members’ resignation letters.
Ntutha made sensational claims that two of the four members, who resigned, were bitter at being disqualified by the bank as not being credible individuals to be in custody of public funds.
He said the Financial Clearing Bureau (FCB) found vice-chairman Allan Mpofu and board member Madza Takawira as unsuitable candidates to be entrusted with public funds.
Only Otrick Siziba, who also resigned, and himself, were given the green light to be signatories.
In another sensational revelation, Ntutha said Siziba was aware of the transaction which led to the chairman’s suspension last year as he appended his signature.
“What happened is that when these guys got into office, most of them wanted to be signatories to the association’s funds because of the misconception that there is money at ZIFA,” said Ntutha.
“However after completing the forms, they hit a brickwall at the bank after being found not to be in good standing to be in custody of public finances.
“It’s a credibility test by the Financial Clearing Bureau (FCB) and all those who sprinted to the bank to be signatories failed except myself and Siziba.”
He said his suspension was more to do with personality clashes and, in any event, that move was never rectified by the electorate as required by law.
“Go backwards, they suspended me and wrote to the national executive who waited for the province to formally lay charges for me to go for a hearing but there was nothing until a year passed.
“So, the national executive said they can not continue like this without any action being done, one year down the line because at the end of it, it will appear as if the problem is with them (national executive).
“Yet, if the province had issues they should have laid charges, informed the national guys that they want to conduct a hearing against me.
“Instead they just enjoyed being in charge, albeit in an acting capacity.
“This whole thing was and is a misnomer, its only that I didn’t want to raise unnecessary noise,” said Ntutha.
He said his suspension was supposed to be endorsed by the electorate and, as long as that didn’t happen, it rendered the whole process a legal nullity.
Ntutha said teams met during the mid-year meeting and demanded to know where their chairman was and interrogated the executive committee on why they took a provincial matter to the ZIFA board without first consulting them.
“Some of the clubs actually phoned me soon after my reinstatement saying they went through hell in the past season under the guys who were in charge.
“The irony is that the said money was actually signed for by two people, myself and another board member, Siziba, who surprisingly also resigned with the rest of the committee.
“So, the clubs said the chairman has no case to answer here because if he had any, he was supposed to be suspended together with the other board member who signed.
“It’s clear that this case has nothing to do with money but is just a personal war,” said Ntutha.
Online Reporter